When I was 7 yrs old, I got a camera from Dad, who was working at Social Welfare. For my first effect I put some tape around a mirror and filled it with water. Then I leaned over the mirror on a chair and swirled the water around with my finger. A few years later,Ii saw this in a music video and realised "this is a job".

I did tv commercials and then was encouraged to work on "The Frightners" in 1995. TVcommercials are a good way to learn the basics, like what colours tv will reject. In 1992 did a film course in England, where I learnt about "shooting to cut". Previsuallisation is important, including the planning and juxtaposition of images. Film is creating emotion.(for example the first two scenes in "Gladiator", with the contrast between his fields and the battlescene) creating animatics to go by, which means you can see the whole film before it's shot, instead of using static story boards.

Claymation: I have made music videos - one for "Iwi", a band from the Kapiti Coast, for the single Moake. 6 months of After Effects with 3d taniwha and animated the 12 gods which are mentioned in the song.

I won the NZ MTV station id contest with "I remember", no sound but the waves. I noticed the things that stood out on MTV didn't have much noise, in contrast to the music videos.

I like the humanity , tactile style of claymation and flexibility of cg created or treated environments.

It's great, it's not just cameras and people running around in "ping pong ball suits". I use a midi controller to control characters, and sometimes use the mouse. Scene Genie, a Max plugin (free for max 3) and available for Max 4, can track from camera footage. You can also use puppets or camera control, but it doesn't replace keyframes. All of the mocap data I have worked with needed tweaking.

The demise of established websites like icebox is dissapointing. It has been good for projects such as Starship regulars, which now has it's own show, and 405. 405 was a weekend project that became popular because of the internet. It's possible to aim for the internet.

Production values - final resolution on the internet/video is lower than film. It's possible to budget production around it. Using block colour is a style which decreases file sizes - but though it is a smaller download, the medium is limiting creativity.

I wouldn't do it for dialups, though I don't use flash. I'm a video maker. But flash is a different way of doing it. There is less data for vectors. I like the way rasters and vectors look together if done well.

I think everycountry could use a resource like that. The sponsors would gain from their involvement. But on the other hand, larger overseas sites have gone down. Maybe we need a "Nz Online" [as well as NZ On Air]

405 demonstates that. I think it's powerful. It's a tricky one. It depends on the work - while makeup can be represented by still photos, or well known films, there is no point showing compositing work at 320*200 or 640*480, because you can't see anything. It's a combinaion of luck, preparedness and opportunity. As well as "alchemy" (making something from nothing), it's also who you know. I would rather meet people in person than view their work online, even though it's a job in itself.